Engendering The Early Household

Engendering the early Household is a socio-historical study of the Grhyasutras, which are texts that detail rituals for the household. Compiled after the Vedas and the Bramanas, they represent how Brahmanical ideology came to be consolidated and how varna and gender hierarchies solidified. Using the texts, this book present how the Grhyasutras assimilated and 'brahmanised' commonly practiced rituals in a selective manner, highlighting only rituals centred around the household. This book also reveals the deep roots of Brahmanical traditions by studying how grhya rituals seek to ensure the birth of male progeny for the male householder. The Grhyasutras thus project a social construct in which households are to be considered the personal domains of householders, while bramanas function as the custodians of social order through the mechanism of rituals.

ISBN: 9788125032328
Author: Tyagi, Jaya
Published by: Orient Longman Private Limited
For more information, please visit www.indiabookmart.com